


For A Good Cause

by NamelesslyNightlock



Series: Going Down Swinging [49]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Asgardian Tony Stark, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Feels, Flowers, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Injury, Kissing, Loki (Marvel) Feels, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Romantic Fluff, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is an idiot, injured Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:29:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23128573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelesslyNightlock/pseuds/NamelesslyNightlock
Summary: Anthony didn’t often act like an idiot, but. Whenever he did, he always did it spectacularly.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Series: Going Down Swinging [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1330490
Comments: 44
Kudos: 459





	For A Good Cause

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks a million to **AshAndSnow** who kept me sane through editing this, and who also thought of the title ❤︎  
>   
>  **Prompt** — _“Take off your shirt.”_

“Loki,” Anthony groaned as he sunk down on the couch in the prince’s quarters, his voice laced with pain. “It’s a bad idea to go into the forest. Turns out, there are a lot of bilgesnipe in there.”

If Loki had possessed even the _slightest_ fraction less control than he did, then he would have sworn at Anthony right then and there. As it was, he could barely hold in the curses he wanted to utter, his jaw clenching hard enough that it began to ache.

Anthony didn’t often act like an idiot, but. Whenever he did, he always did it spectacularly.

Loki had _told_ Anthony that it was dangerous. He’d _told_ him not to do it, had even grabbed his arm when he’d seen his closest friend about to head out in his riding gear. But Anthony had shrugged him off, had said that this was something he _needed_ to do. Loki had near _begged_ , because it was exactly the time of year when the bilgesnipe were most active, the _single fortnight_ of the year when even the bravest of Asgardians wouldn’t dare risk stepping between the trees.

But Anthony had gone into the forest anyway, had even point blank refused when Loki – hands trembling with fear at just the thought – had offered to go with him, so that he at least would not be alone. And then he’d come back to the palace _hours_ after he said he would, in the dead of the night when everyone was sleeping—

Well, everyone except Loki. He knew that he should sleep, for the celebration of his own birthday was to take place the following evening and he would need to be well rested. But the terror had clawed at his throat, had scratched at his mind and he had tossed and turned for hours. Unable to sleep, he began pacing his room, wringing his hands, thinking on possibilities that became worse and worse with every minute that passed—

Until he heard that knock on the door, and he’d thrown it open to find Anthony, covered in blood and wearing a sheepish smile.

And now, here they were, gazing at each other in silence as if neither knew what to say.

Or, well. There was one thing for Loki to say, at least.

“You should go to the infirmary,” Loki said, staring at the growing red stain on Anthony’s shirt.

“No,” Anthony said immediately, leaning further back into the couch.

Loki’s frowned deepened even further as he sat down beside him. “Why not?” he snapped. “You need to heal—”

“And I thought, maybe you could help me?” Anthony asked. “I mean, you don’t _have_ to—”

“I will always help you if you need it,” Loki groaned. “You know that. But the healers will do a far finer job than I. Why do you not want to go and see them?”

“Because… they’ll ask me how it happened,” Anthony said– and was that a blush of pink across his cheeks? Surely he wasn’t embarrassed. Not _now._ And well, if he was, then it was only his own fault.

“Then tell them that you stupidly went into the forest during bilgesnipe mating season and got yourself mauled,” Loki replied, perhaps a little sharply.

Anthony just winced, and his cheeks darkened further. Loki glanced away, the colour doing things to his insides that he didn’t want to allow to show on his face.

“You shouldn’t have done it,” Loki muttered.

“Yeah, I should’ve,” Anthony countered– though his voice was strangely soft. “But, I should have heard the bilgesnipe creeping up behind me before it got so close.”

Loki heard him wince, then, and he turned back to see Anthony poking at his bloody shoulder.

And… well. Loki never had been able to deny him, had he?

“Take off your shirt,” he sighed– and Anthony looked up in surprise. Did he _really_ doubt that Loki wouldn’t help him, even when Loki was…

Well, no, he wasn’t _angry_. He wasn’t sure it was possible for him to be really, truly, _properly_ angry at Anthony, certainly not over something like this. He knew that the sharpness of his tone was from _worry_ , not rage– and the twist of his heart and the sick feeling in his gut had been due to pure fear.

Fear that had plagued him every hour until Anthony had finally come back– fear that had not let him sleep, had not even let him properly _breathe_ until Anthony had returned.

Even now, watching as Anthony struggled to tug the shirt over his head, Loki felt something ache in his chest. He reached over to help, and in the end Loki simply helped Anthony tear it away.

It was unusually easy to keep his eyes away from Anthony’s tanned skin as the other man turned to show Loki his back, as Loki’s gaze was locked on the injury to Anthony’s shoulder. It was large, but thankfully it wasn’t deep– Anthony had managed to duck out of the way and the bilgesnipe’s horn had gouged through skin, but it hadn’t cut down through the muscle. There was a lot of blood, but. Loki wouldn’t have any problems fixing it.

He placed his hands over Anthony’s shoulder blade, just shy of the injury– and then he let his seiðr flow free, probing the wound and looking to see how much would need to be done. There did not appear to be a foreign object in the wound, and all Loki need do was clean it, ensure that the skin was properly aligned to limit scarring, and then speed up the natural healing process of Anthony’s body.

“You were lucky,” Loki said. “This won’t take too long.”

Anthony hummed in agreement, and despite the fact that Loki had barely started he seemed to relax just from Loki’s touch. Or perhaps it was the feel of Loki’s seiðr– Anthony had always found Loki’s magic comforting, rather than disquieting as most others did.

“Why did you do it?” Loki asked as he worked, his voice low and rough as the exhaustion from the stress and the healing hit him all at once– though he didn’t move his hands, and he didn’t stop the flow of seiðr. “Why did you risk it?”

Anthony sighed. “I wanted to fetch something,” he said.

Loki couldn’t help it. “What was so important that you were willing to risk your life?”

Anthony ducked his head, but he didn’t answer. Loki merely sighed again, knowing that if Anthony was being stubborn then there was nothing in the Nine that would be able to make him answer.

So, he simply focused on his healing, putting in more effort, more of _himself_ than he would have had it been anyone else. Even if this were Thor, Loki might have left him a scar as a reminder to not be so incredibly stupid next time– but this wasn’t Thor. This was _Anthony,_ and Loki worked himself to near exhaustion to make sure that this event wouldn’t leave Anthony with anything to regret.

Anthony always managed to bring out the softness in him, the pieces of himself that no one else ever got to see. Loki knew exactly why that was– he’d known for years, for far too long and yet not long enough. He always craved Anthony’s company and the sight of Anthony’s smile no matter how much the wanting made him ache, and he would always, _always_ do whatever it was that Anthony asked. It was one of the reasons why it was so easy to fall silent at Anthony’s stubbornness. Even it meant leaving his curiosity unsatisfied, he wouldn’t try to make Anthony explain something that he didn’t wish to disclose.

When Anthony’s shoulder was finally as healed as it ever would be, Loki pulled back his seiðr as the surge of tiredness hit him like a wave. He leaned forward in a concoction of exhaustion and relief, brushing his lips lightly over the thin, silver line which was all that remained of the once gaping wound—

Then Anthony’s muscles tensed, and Loki froze.

“Loki?” Anthony whispered.

Loki swallowed, and shifted away. “My apologies,” he said, moving to stand from the couch. “The healing exhausted me, and I—”

He was stopped by Anthony’s hand curling around his wrist.

“Wait. Loki, look at me.”

Loki drew in a deep, fortifying breath. He told himself that this would not hurt, at least no more than it already did. He already knew that Anthony did not want him the way that Loki yearned for Anthony, he _knew_ that Anthony only saw him as a friend– and that their friendship was strong enough that this would not break it. This… this would not change things.

He turned his head to meet Anthony’s gaze—

And then Anthony cupped his hands around Loki’s cheeks and softly drew him into a kiss.

Loki gasped against Anthony’s lips, hardly able to believe that it was real– but real or not he wrapped his arms around Anthony and kissed him back, taking this moment for the gift that it was. Because even if the moment lasted only half a second, it was still one that Loki had been waiting far too long to experience.

But when their kiss broke, Anthony didn’t move away. His hands slid down Loki’s neck and looped over his shoulders, and he pressed their foreheads together in a long, lingering embrace.

Loki’s heart was racing, and his breath felt a little shallow with the nervousness of not knowing.

“Anthony?” Loki whispered– needing to ask, because simply the kiss was not enough to be sure. He needed… to _know_. “What does this mean?”

Anthony smiled, and leaned back so that he could meet Loki’s gaze. “Do you still want to know what was so important that I had to go into the forest?” he asked.

Loki was a little confused by the answer, but he gave a nod in reply.

Anthony reached down to the ground and picked up the satchel he had brought with him to the forest. He reached inside, and– as he carefully retrieved his prize, Loki felt his breath catch in his throat.

“I went into the forest today,” Anthony said, his voice soft. “Because I wanted to get this.”

Loki’s eyes widened, and his fingers trembled slightly as he reached out to take the flower from Anthony’s hands.

The flower was almost violent to look at, the many petals long and relatively thin as they curved up from the centre. Each one was coloured a bright yellow which darkened to a shocking red at the tips. It was Loki’s favourite flower, and… not _only_ because of the colouring, but because of the way that they grew. Frigga had tried to grow some in her gardens, but they never took– they only ever grew wild, spreading out across the forest and unable to be tamed.

And… Anthony had gone to get one, in the middle of the most dangerous fortnight of the year.

“Anthony…” Loki breathed, glancing up from the flower, feeling like the world wasn’t making any sense and yet, as if everything was falling into place all at once. “You went to get this for me?”

“I… I wanted to get you something special for your birthday this year,” Anthony whispered. “Something that might… help you see how special I think _you_ are.”

Loki’s fingers curled around the stem of the flower as he leaned forward again, catching Anthony’s lips in another kiss– a kiss that he _knew_ was real. And Loki knew that they would probably have to talk more about this, that there were things they should discuss, such as the fact that Anthony had _risked his life_ just to fetch Loki a flower– something he couldn’t be happy with, no matter how much it made him want to smile, made him feel like he truly was the luckiest person alive. But for now, with nothing but the flower between them, the taste of Anthony on his lips, and the very _proof_ of Anthony’s feelings in his hand, there was only one thing that Loki felt he needed to say.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “Just… please, do not go into the forest again. At least not until next week.”

Loki felt Anthony’s smile against his lips. “I’m not going anywhere,” Anthony replied, his breath feeling warm as it brushed over Loki’s skin. “I am _exactly_ where I want to be.”

And as Anthony kissed him once more– Loki knew that so was he.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you is also due to **jaxonkreide** , who helped me think of a flower way back when I was writing this. You can find a picture of it [here.](https://previews.123rf.com/images/ksenish/ksenish1112/ksenish111200012/11510547-close-up-of-yellow-red-chrysanthemum-flower.jpg)


End file.
